How to use Channel Affinity in Klaviyo to improve your multichannel campaigns and flows

Sending the right message to your users is no longer enough: you also need to send it through the right channel for each one. This is where Klaviyo's new feature comes in: Channel Affinity, an AI-powered feature that allows you to identify which channel (email, SMS, or push) is most effective for each user or customer.

In this article, we explain what it is, how it works, how you can start using it, and how to apply it practically to improve the performance of your campaigns and automated flows.

What is Channel Affinity?

Channel Affinity is a Klaviyo predictive metric that tells you which communication channel is most effective for each customer, based on their historical behavior. That is, the channel where that contact is most likely to click or complete a purchase.

Klaviyo analyzes previous interactions (opens, clicks, conversions by channel) and uses artificial intelligence to assign an affinity level by channel: High, Medium, or Low for Email, SMS, and Push.

In addition to this general affinity, within each profile you can see an information card with:

• Active channels: Only channels you have enabled and for which the profile has given consent appear.

• Engagement preference: A ranking of channels based on the estimated probability of that profile interacting with them.

What is "expected engagement"?

Klaviyo calculates "expected engagement" as the probability that a profile will interact through a specific channel. This probability is based on factors such as:

• Open and click rates in previous campaigns.

• Frequency and recency of site visits.

• Time since the user subscribed to each channel.

• Comparative interaction history by channel.

With this data, Klaviyo assigns a channel preference with values such as:

• First: Channel with the highest probability of interaction.

• Second: Channel with medium probability.

• Third: Channel with the lowest probability of interaction.

This information is extremely useful for designing personalized strategies based on actual user behavior.

What do you need to activate Channel Affinity?

Unlike other Predictive Analytics features, Channel Affinity has specific requirements and is activated independently.

You will only see channel affinity in profiles if your account meets the following conditions:

• You have at least 2 channels activated (e.g., Email and SMS).

• You have at least 1,000 profiles with at least one delivery on each channel.

• You have sent at least 5,000 campaign emails on each channel in the last 6 months.

• You have recorded at least one interaction (click or open) on each channel.

• For Email and SMS to be included in Channel Affinity, you must be on a paid plan.

Please note that these requirements are not based on the total number of profiles in your account, but on those who have actually interacted with your campaigns (clicked or opened a message).

What is Channel Affinity for?

Implementing Channel Affinity in your campaigns and automations allows you to:

• Personalize each customer's experience.

• Reduce costs, avoiding unnecessary use of paid channels like SMS.

• Increase open, click, and conversion rates.

• Avoid multichannel saturation, sending the message only through the most relevant channel.

Important: Channel Affinity only applies if the user has given their consent for that channel (e.g., subscribed to SMS or has an active push token).

Below we share real examples where you can see how to use this feature and make your strategies effective

Example 1: Smart segmentation by preferred channel

Suppose you want to send a promotion via SMS, but only to those who actually interact through that channel.

1. Create the segment: Customers with high SMS affinity

Conditions:

• SMS Channel Affinity equals High

• Has consented to receive SMS = True

• (Optional) Has placed an order at least once

In this way, you only target those most likely to respond positively, and avoid spending budget on contacts who prefer another channel.

Example 2: Automated flow based on preferred channel

Imagine an abandoned cart recovery flow that adapts the channel based on customer affinity:

Flow structure:

1. Trigger: Customer starts checkout.

2. Condition (Split):

   • If Email Channel Affinity = High → Send email

   • If SMS Channel Affinity = High and has consent → Send SMS

   • If Push Channel Affinity = High and has active token → Send push

   • If none of the above → Send default email (if consent is given)

In addition, you can add a delay and a subsequent condition: if they have not clicked or purchased in X hours, try another secondary channel if they have medium affinity.

Using Channel Affinity in Klaviyo is a key step towards a truly personalized and efficient marketing strategy. It allows you to combine automation, artificial intelligence, and respect for user preferences to achieve better results with less effort.

If your account already meets the requirements, it's time to take advantage of this feature! And if not, now you know what steps to take to activate it as soon as possible. At Webmefy, as a Klaviyo Platinum Master partner, we are up to date with the functionalities of this tool to get the most out of it and make your strategies much more effective. If you don't know where to start, let's talk!